Jharkhand colliery mishap death toll climbs to 16

The death toll climbed to 16 in the coal mine collapse at Lalmatia open cast coal mine of Eastern Coalfields Ltd (ECL) with the recovery of five more bodies on Saturday. R R Mishra, officiating CMD of ECL, a Coal India subsidiary told PTI, “We have recovered five more bodies. We are carrying on the rescue operation in a systematic manner so that the situation does not aggravate as the debris is too much and it should not fall.” 

Danger zones have been declared around the place of incidents to restrict the entry of people there. Moreover, the district commissioner has also stationed police and CISF officials to restrict entry of people in the danger zone, Mishra said.

“We have also called experts from outside to help us in the rescue operation. We have fully ensured that the rescue operations are done with proper safety measures. We have also come up with Standard Operating Procedures which would help us in proper operations so that there is no loss to lives,” Mishra added.

Heavy machinery was deployed as rescuers, including those from the NDRF, toiled through the day on Friday extricating bodies and looking for survivors.